Desktop Support Contract Job Trends

Desktop Support
UK

The median Desktop Support daily rate in the UK is £200, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 15 May 2026.

The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
15 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 446 306 305
Rank change year-on-year -140 -1 +3
Contract jobs requiring a Desktop Support 179 223 309
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.38% 0.77% 0.72%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.41% 0.83% 0.78%
Number of daily rates quoted 144 127 230
10th Percentile £142 £150 £125
25th Percentile £156 £179 £143
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £200 £205 £200
Median % change year-on-year -2.56% +2.50% -1.32%
75th Percentile £230 £248 £219
90th Percentile £262 £293 £269
UK excluding London median daily rate £195 £205 £200
% change year-on-year -4.88% +2.50% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 17 29 32
10th Percentile £16.39 £13.75 £16.33
25th Percentile £16.48 £16.67 £18.13
Median hourly rate £19.91 £17.30 £21.00
Median % change year-on-year +15.09% -17.62% -9.68%
75th Percentile £21.46 £23.75 £27.44
90th Percentile £26.66 £26.87 £30.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £19.91 £22.50 £20.00
% change year-on-year -11.51% +12.50% +6.67%

All Contract IT Job Roles
UK

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of contract jobs in our overall sample.

Contract vacancies in the UK with a recognized job title 44,018 26,871 39,592
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.30% 92.45% 92.79%
Number of daily rates quoted 26,969 17,507 25,749
10th Percentile £320 £296 £280
25th Percentile £413 £406 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £510 £513 £525
Median % change year-on-year -0.49% -2.38% -2.78%
75th Percentile £614 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £495 £475 £490
% change year-on-year +4.21% -3.06% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,868 1,042 2,669
10th Percentile £15.00 £14.00 £12.86
25th Percentile £20.35 £18.20 £16.30
Median hourly rate £43.09 £28.60 £37.18
Median % change year-on-year +50.66% -23.08% -17.38%
75th Percentile £66.50 £62.25 £61.30
90th Percentile £78.75 £75.00 £73.02
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £27.50 £40.00
% change year-on-year +63.64% -31.25% -5.88%

Desktop Support
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'Desktop Support' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Desktop Support job vacancy trend in the UK

Desktop Support
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Desktop Support job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Desktop Support job vacancies in the UK

Desktop Support
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Desktop Support over the 6 months to 15 May 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Desktop Support in the UK

Desktop Support
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Desktop Support job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Desktop Support job vacancies in the UK

Desktop Support
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Desktop Support over the 6 months to 15 May 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Desktop Support in the UK

Desktop Support
Top 16 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Desktop Support within the UK over the 6 months to 15 May 2026. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 6 month period last year.

Location Rank Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Matching
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
England -138 164 £200 -2.68% 16
UK excluding London -117 138 £195 -4.88% 10
London -76 37 £213 +6.25% 10
Midlands -49 31 £200 -0.25% 2
South East -62 25 £172 -16.34% 4
East Midlands -8 24 £200 +1.66%
East of England -25 24 £195 -10.34%
North of England -75 23 £230 +17.95% 3
South West -48 22 £210 -10.64%
Work from Home -20 16 £163 -49.22%
North West -31 14 £188 +20.97% 2
Scotland -5 9 £213 +6.25%
Yorkshire -62 9 £230 -2.13% 1
West Midlands -64 7 £145 -27.50% 2
Wales -9 3 £160 -50.77%
Northern Ireland -8 1 £175 +16.67% 1

Desktop Support Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 15 May 2026, Desktop Support contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads featuring Desktop Support in the job title.

1 119 (66.48%) Windows
2 90 (50.28%) Microsoft
3 70 (39.11%) Microsoft 365
4 68 (37.99%) Active Directory
5 57 (31.84%) Customer Service
6 47 (26.26%) Windows 10
7 38 (21.23%) Problem-Solving
8 37 (20.67%) Microsoft Intune
9 35 (19.55%) Azure
10 28 (15.64%) SC Cleared
10 28 (15.64%) Security Cleared
11 27 (15.08%) SCCM
12 25 (13.97%) ITIL
13 23 (12.85%) SharePoint
14 22 (12.29%) Migration
15 20 (11.17%) Mac OS
16 18 (10.06%) Continuous Improvement
16 18 (10.06%) Entra ID
16 18 (10.06%) Service Delivery
17 17 (9.50%) Apple iOS
17 17 (9.50%) Asset Management
17 17 (9.50%) SLA
17 17 (9.50%) VPN
18 14 (7.82%) ITSM
18 14 (7.82%) ServiceNow
19 13 (7.26%) Android
19 13 (7.26%) Microsoft Office
20 12 (6.70%) Logistics
20 12 (6.70%) PowerShell
21 11 (6.15%) Apple

Desktop Support Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities by Category

The following tables expand on the one above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. They cover the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each category:

Application Platforms
1 23 (12.85%) SharePoint
2 11 (6.15%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 13 (7.26%) Microsoft Office
2 7 (3.91%) Spreadsheet
3 1 (0.56%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 2 (1.12%) assyst
2 1 (0.56%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 70 (39.11%) Microsoft 365
2 35 (19.55%) Azure
3 18 (10.06%) Entra ID
4 4 (2.23%) Google Ads
4 4 (2.23%) Google Workspace
4 4 (2.23%) OneDrive
4 4 (2.23%) Slack
5 2 (1.12%) Microsoft Copilot
6 1 (0.56%) Google Drive
6 1 (0.56%) IaaS
Communications & Networking
1 17 (9.50%) VPN
2 11 (6.15%) DNS
3 10 (5.59%) DHCP
3 10 (5.59%) TCP/IP
4 7 (3.91%) Wireless
5 5 (2.79%) Wi-Fi
6 3 (1.68%) Cisco IOS
6 3 (1.68%) Skype
6 3 (1.68%) Softphone
7 2 (1.12%) Firewall
7 2 (1.12%) LAN
8 1 (0.56%) IPv4
8 1 (0.56%) Remote Desktop
8 1 (0.56%) Telepresence
8 1 (0.56%) Unified Communications
8 1 (0.56%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.56%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 6 (3.35%) JIRA
General
1 67 (37.43%) Social Skills
2 16 (8.94%) Analytical Skills
3 14 (7.82%) Finance
4 7 (3.91%) Law
5 6 (3.35%) Public Sector
5 6 (3.35%) Telecoms
6 5 (2.79%) Retail
7 4 (2.23%) Manufacturing
7 4 (2.23%) Organisational Skills
8 2 (1.12%) Electronics
8 2 (1.12%) Legal
8 2 (1.12%) Local Government
8 2 (1.12%) Marketing
8 2 (1.12%) Pharmaceutical
9 1 (0.56%) Aerospace
9 1 (0.56%) Banking
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (0.56%) Software Packaging
1 1 (0.56%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 20 (11.17%) Smartphone
2 16 (8.94%) Onboarding
3 14 (7.82%) Self-Motivation
4 8 (4.47%) Hybrid Cloud
4 8 (4.47%) iPhone
5 5 (2.79%) Driving Licence
5 5 (2.79%) Enterprise Software
6 4 (2.23%) Management Information System
6 4 (2.23%) Video Conferencing
7 3 (1.68%) Data Protection Act
7 3 (1.68%) iPad
8 2 (1.12%) Hedge funds
8 2 (1.12%) Mobile App
8 2 (1.12%) Virtual Team
9 1 (0.56%) Analytical Mindset
9 1 (0.56%) Augmented Reality
9 1 (0.56%) Data Centre
9 1 (0.56%) Virtual Reality
Operating Systems
1 119 (66.48%) Windows
2 47 (26.26%) Windows 10
3 20 (11.17%) Mac OS
4 17 (9.50%) Apple iOS
5 13 (7.26%) Android
6 7 (3.91%) Windows 7
7 6 (3.35%) Windows Server
8 4 (2.23%) Windows 8
9 1 (0.56%) Linux
9 1 (0.56%) Windows XP
Processes & Methodologies
1 57 (31.84%) Customer Service
2 38 (21.23%) Problem-Solving
3 25 (13.97%) ITIL
4 22 (12.29%) Migration
5 18 (10.06%) Continuous Improvement
5 18 (10.06%) Service Delivery
6 17 (9.50%) Asset Management
7 14 (7.82%) ITSM
8 12 (6.70%) Logistics
9 10 (5.59%) Disaster Recovery
9 10 (5.59%) Incident Management
9 10 (5.59%) Service Management
9 10 (5.59%) Time Management
10 9 (5.03%) BCP
10 9 (5.03%) Business Continuity
10 9 (5.03%) Inventory Management
10 9 (5.03%) Project Delivery
10 9 (5.03%) User Experience
11 8 (4.47%) Data Migration
11 8 (4.47%) Root Cause Analysis
Programming Languages
1 12 (6.70%) PowerShell
2 1 (0.56%) Python
Qualifications
1 28 (15.64%) SC Cleared
1 28 (15.64%) Security Cleared
2 11 (6.15%) Degree
3 8 (4.47%) A+ Certification
4 5 (2.79%) ITIL Certification
5 3 (1.68%) Computer Science Degree
6 1 (0.56%) DV Cleared
6 1 (0.56%) Microsoft Certification
6 1 (0.56%) Microsoft Certified Professional
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 17 (9.50%) SLA
System Software
1 68 (37.99%) Active Directory
2 4 (2.23%) Virtual Desktop
3 3 (1.68%) Firmware
4 2 (1.12%) VMware Infrastructure
5 1 (0.56%) BitLocker
Systems Management
1 37 (20.67%) Microsoft Intune
2 27 (15.08%) SCCM
3 2 (1.12%) Jamf Pro
4 1 (0.56%) WSUS
Vendors
1 90 (50.28%) Microsoft
2 14 (7.82%) ServiceNow
3 11 (6.15%) Apple
3 11 (6.15%) HP
4 8 (4.47%) Starlink
5 7 (3.91%) McAfee
6 6 (3.35%) Dell
7 5 (2.79%) Bloomberg
7 5 (2.79%) Cisco
7 5 (2.79%) Citrix
7 5 (2.79%) Google
8 2 (1.12%) Remedy
8 2 (1.12%) Salesforce
8 2 (1.12%) SAP
8 2 (1.12%) VMware
9 1 (0.56%) Altiris
9 1 (0.56%) Barracuda Networks
9 1 (0.56%) CrowdStrike
9 1 (0.56%) SolarWinds
9 1 (0.56%) Veeam